Muslim caliphates in history

Some Muslim scholars argue that Muslims should work towards a single caliphate that
unites all Muslims, and that Muslims should not be ruled by many different leaders. Others
point out that Muslims have been ruled by different leaders since a very early period, and
that to impose a single leader on all Muslims would be impractical and could not meet the
needs of all the different groups and nations in the world today.

What does history tell us about this question? It is true that Muslims were only united
under a single caliph for a very short period of history—less than a century and a half.
This includes the ten years of the Prophet’s (s) enlightened rule in Medina. When the
Abbasids overthrew the Umayyads in 132/750, the ruling Caliph Marwan II was killed
along with his family. But a survivor, Abd al-Rahman (d. 172/788), fled to Spain, where
he set up a rival caliphate based in Cordoba. The caliphate was highly successful, and the
Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain) were completely independent of the Abbasid
caliphate throughout the seven centuries of Muslim rule there.(tugas soleh)

The Abbasids claimed descent from the Prophet Muhammad’s (s) family. At the same time, in North
Africa, several other movements were emerging which also claimed descent from the Prophet (s).
In what is now Morocco, the Idrisiyya emerged in around 172/789 and ruled for two centuries,
followed by the Almoravids (al-murabitun) and the Almohads (al-muwahhidun). None of these
pledged any loyalty to the Abbasid caliph. In what is now Tunisia another caliphate, that of
the Fatimids, began in 296/909 and also claimed descent from the Prophet (s). Now considered the
first Shi’i empire, it lasted for 250 years alongside the Sunni caliphate in Baghdad, being its main
rival. Among their achievements was the establishment of al-Azhar in Cairo.

The Abbasid caliphate had its strongest period from around 750 to 900 ce, also around
a century and a half. The last great Abbasid caliph, Harun al-Rashid, died in 193/809. After
he died, the third century ah/ninth century ce saw the emergence of various independent
emirates, including the Samanids in Khorasan, the Shi’a Hamdanids in Syria, the Tulunids
in Egypt, the Buyids and the Ghaznavids in Persia, and the Seljuk Turks. Most of these
were entirely independent from the caliph in Baghdad, though they claimed to owe him
allegiance. Some, such as the Buyids and the Seljuks, even captured that city, where they
allowed the caliph to continue ruling in name only. When the Mamluk sultans took power
in Egypt, they brought the caliph to Cairo and again ruled in his name for several centuries.
During this time the caliph was a ceremonial position with very little power.(tugas ucoy)

This situation—where a king is maintained as a symbol of authority, but real power

is exercised by others—is not unusual in history. Even today, the Queen of England
(represented by the Governor-General) holds symbolic power in Australia, but true power
is wielded by the Australian Government.

Moreover, a prosperous state does not necessarily depend on having a strong caliph
. In fact, great progress and prosperity can take place even when there are many different leaders.
The age of the Abbasid emirates and the Mamluk sultans, from 900–1500 ce, saw great intellectual
and technological advances, military expansion and flourishing visual and architectural arts. Many
significant religious and educational institutions, including the Nizamiyya madrasa in Baghdad,
were established. Most of the important texts used in Islamic law,
theology, Qur’anic exegesis and hadith commentary were written during this time. (tugas kolis)

The Maliki scholar Abu Abdullah al-Qurtubi

(d. 671/1272), who lived in Spain at the end of Muslim rule there and then Egypt at the
beginning of the Ayyubid sultanate, acknowledged the plurality of caliphs. He wrote that
‘if the lands are distant and far from each other, such as Khorasan and Andalusia, then it
is permissible [to have more than one leader]’ (1999: 1:23). Another Maliki scholar from
Granada, al-Qalasadi (d. 891/1486), commented that a hadith about obeying a single ruler
implies only that it was wrong to have more than one leader in any one region, not that
one ruler should rule all the Muslims in the world (2010: 308). The great Damascene jurist
Imam al-Nawawi (d. 676/1277) noted that the matter of single or multiple rulers is a matter
of difference of opinion, not a conclusive matter (qati’) (2001: 6:444).

Any discussion of a caliphate today needs to take place with one eye on the historical
reality. Most mainstream scholars, such as Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Sheikh Abdullah
b. Bayyah and others, accept that the present nation-states are here to stay for the time
being. Sheikh al-Qaradawi has argued that any modern ‘caliphate’ may be quite different
in character to historical models, and must come about through free association between
Muslim countries, not by force. Sheikh Bin Bayyah, a member of the International Fiqh
Council, has argued recently that what is important for Muslims is the content, not the
form, of government.(tugas mia)
The caliphate is not a matter of theology ... it is one possible means among others that
could be replaced today by other means in order to achieve unity between nations ....
Actually, for many centuries, some Muslim lands were independent of the caliphate
and were still able to uphold the religion, safeguard the law and sacred sites, and
ensure peace and security. This is still the case. Our religion teaches us that our
understandings stem from meanings, not words and forms. Consequently, there is no
religious duty to pursue the establishment of a caliphate by force—even if we assume it
is possible to do so. (2014: 11)

Sources: Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-qur’ān (Beirut: Dār al-
Fikr,
1999); Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-Qalaṣādī, Lubb al-azhār al-yamaniyya ʿalā al-anwār al-
sanniyya
(published in the margin of al-Anwār al-sanniyya fī al-alfāẓ al-sunniyya) (Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2010);
Yaḥyā
b. Sharaf al-Nawawī, Sharḥ ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa, 2001); Rashad Ali and Hannah
Stuart,
A Guide to Refuting Jihadism: Critiquing Radical Islamist Claims to Theological Authenticity (London:
Henry
Jackson Society, 2014); ʿAbd Allāh b. Maḥfūẓ b. Bayyah, ‘This is not the path to paradise: response to
ISIS’,
14 September 2014, http://binbayyah.net/english/2014/09/24/fatwa-response-to-isis/; Al-Quds al-
ʿArabī,
‘Al-Qaraḍāwī: Khilāfat “Dāʿish” lā maʿnā la-hā wa-khilāfat hādhā al-ʿaṣr fīdirāliyya aw kūnifīdirāliyya’,
26 August 2014, www.alquds.co.uk/?p=211896.
(Tugas soleh cari jawaban semua pertanyaan )
Comprehension questions
1 For how long were Muslims successfully ruled by a single ruler?(lees than century a half)
2 How did most rulers in pre-modern Islam justify their claim to legitimacy?
3 For all of Islamic history, whenever there has been a caliph, he has exercised supreme
power and no-one has challenged him. (True/False)
4 How did many pre-modern Muslim scholars see the question of multiple rulers?
5 How does Sheikh Abdullah b. Bayyah see the question of re-establishing a caliphate?

Discussion questions
1 Why did it become very difficult to unite all Muslims under one ruler?
2 What does this suggest about the possibility of re-establishing a caliphate today?

Part 1
Beberapa sarjana Muslim berpendapat bahwa umat Islam harus bekerja menuju
kekhalifahan tunggal itu
menyatukan semua Muslim, dan bahwa umat Islam seharusnya tidak diperintah oleh banyak
pemimpin yang berbeda. Lainnya
menunjukkan bahwa umat Islam telah diperintah oleh para pemimpin yang berbeda sejak periode
yang sangat awal, dan
bahwa untuk memaksakan seorang pemimpin tunggal pada semua Muslim akan tidak praktis dan
tidak dapat memenuhi
kebutuhan semua kelompok dan bangsa yang berbeda di dunia saat ini.

Apa yang dikatakan oleh sejarah tentang pertanyaan ini? Memang benar bahwa umat Islam
hanya bersatu
di bawah satu khalifah untuk periode sejarah yang sangat singkat — kurang dari satu setengah abad.
Ini termasuk sepuluh tahun pemerintahan tercerahkan Nabi (s) di Madinah. Ketika
Abbasiyah menggulingkan Umayyah di 132/750, Khalifah Marwan II yang berkuasa tewas
bersama keluarganya. Tetapi seorang yang selamat, Abd al-Rahman (w. 172/788), melarikan diri ke
Spanyol, di mana
ia mendirikan kekhalifahan saingan yang berbasis di Cordoba. Khalifah itu sangat sukses, dan
Muslim di Semenanjung Iberia (Spanyol) benar-benar independen dari Abbasiyah
kekhalifahan sepanjang tujuh abad pemerintahan Muslim di sana